Since I don't see ECU getting full mebership by the BE going to 17 all sports. CAA has offered them a home, who is #12. Its probably a school w/ fb to give them 12 for that. Elon? If one or both of App/Ga So are gone to the SBC, why stay in the SoCon.

I have come to accept the fact that Mason is likely to end up in the A10 and would love to see the CAA become a southern based basketball focused league with schools like UNCW, CoC, Davidson, UNCG, UNCA, ETSU, Winthrop and some others.

I have come to accept the fact that Mason is likely to end up in the A10 and would love to see the CAA become a southern based basketball focused league with schools like UNCW, CoC, Davidson, UNCG, UNCA, ETSU, Winthrop and some others.

I could see some schools, but not all. For instance, Delaware brings little regarding basketball nor market. If we're talking all-sports with football, sure, UD would be great.

The A10 would look at bringing in only schools that would help maintain. So if they lost 5 schools, they'd go from 14 to 9. So maybe they add a single school to get to 10. But it would depend on who left. If Dayton isn't taken, all of a sudden you might see Horizon (maybe even some MVC) looked at to help Dayton out. If they lose all the western schools, but still have Richmond, GW and GMU, then maybe they look south.

So all wil depend on who leaves before looking at who will be the replacements.

Yeah, I think the A-10 (assuming it loses it's western flank) is down to about 10.The new footprint is New England to Virginia (eastern seaboard, no longer with an arm reaching out I-70).Not sure he A-10 will feel a need for 14 (I think that was perhaps motivated by the fear that they would some day (like REAL SOON, now) be raided by the Catholic 7.I think the A-10 wil be looking for teams with a decent RPI located in (or imediately adjacent to) that new England to Virginia footprint.That just seems to scream "CAA".Maybe the A-10 re-stocks to get to 12.

Northeastern and Hofstra (now that both have dropped FCS football) have lost one of the main reasons they joined the CAA,and both are a bit geographically isolated (NE, especially) in the CAA. Not sure how good their BB programs are year in / year out, but I'd sure bet that if the A-10 came callin' they'd jump.

This BE split is the watershed moment for realignment of Eastern non-FB D-1 schools. It seemed obvious the BE was set up for a split, and when it happened they would be grabbing some A-10 Catholic schools to form a BB conference.

Since CUSA purged itself of BB schools in 2003 (DePaul and Marquette went to BE, SLU and Charlotte to the A-10), SLU's entire focus has been about positioning itself to get back with their traditional buddies (DePaul, Marquette, Dayton, Notre Dame (well, that isn't going to happen)).The school president Lawrence Biondi was all about raising the schools athletic (basketball) profile within the A-10,while the recently deceased Rick Majerus had to be muzzled, since he strongly favored something local like the MVC. St. Louis U's train may have just come into the station.

So there will be a cascade - BE splits, BE raids A-10, A-10 raids (primarily) CAA, and so on. Once this trickles on down, I expect some relative stability among NON-FB schools in D-1.

WHAT IF the CAA loses quite a few schools to A-10, and maybe even loses W&M to the Patriot ?If they were to get knocked down to say 6 -8 schools, who do they raid ?

I keep thinking that a merger of AE + CAA would be a nice conference of flagship schools that has critical mass.The AE is a bit vulnerable right now at 8, and who knows how many the CAA could lose.Merging and getting numbers up to 14-16 may be ideal.Plus the two are now largely sister conferences in the CAA FB league.They can split up into N and S divisions for travel, but at 14-16 teams, they'd be a premier conference, and both could put the "Conference realignment" thing to bed.

Another advantage would be that 6+ members of the CAA FB conference would be "in-house".I think that earns the CAA FB league a seat at the FCS board of directors (or whatever that management council is called).

Worth noting, that the A10 would invite Boston University before they ever thought of Northeastern. And with the remaining schools in the A10, it's still a much better option than the Patriot. BU has wanted in the A10 for decades, so there's no reason to think the Patriot League would be so superior that BU would no longer be interested.

Siena would be another northeast school considered before NU, since Siena has been on the clock for a decade as well.

WHAT IF the CAA loses quite a few schools to A-10, and maybe even loses W&M to the Patriot ?If they were to get knocked down to say 6 -8 schools, who do they raid ?

I keep thinking that a merger of AE + CAA would be a nice conference of flagship schools that has critical mass.The AE is a bit vulnerable right now at 8, and who knows how many the CAA could lose.Merging and getting numbers up to 14-16 may be ideal.Plus the two are now largely sister conferences in the CAA FB league.They can split up into N and S divisions for travel, but at 14-16 teams, they'd be a premier conference, and both could put the "Conference realignment" thing to bed.

Another advantage would be that 6+ members of the CAA FB conference would be "in-house".I think that earns the CAA FB league a seat at the FCS board of directors (or whatever that management council is called).

if the A10 were to take mulitple CAA members, they would likely be northern members and Mason. Southern members like UNCW and CoC would have no desire to look north nor care about any FCS related matters. This would be their chance to create a quality southern based basketball focused league.

Worth noting, that the A10 would invite Boston University before they ever thought of Northeastern. And with the remaining schools in the A10, it's still a much better option than the Patriot. BU has wanted in the A10 for decades, so there's no reason to think the Patriot League would be so superior that BU would no longer be interested.

Siena would be another northeast school considered before NU, since Siena has been on the clock for a decade as well.

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